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Topic: The Economic Downturn.. (Read 113023 times)

Worked Amazon by myself for 6 hours on Sunday at the other (main) post office and the other girl that usually works Amazon showed up to help me on Monday and I worked another 7 hours. Being that Veteran's Day was recognized on Monday Nov 12, I got paid 8 hours plus the time I worked so that makes it worth the work I've noticed also that when I'm there to do Amazon, after we're done I get stuck helping them set out their mail for the following day.. I'm not asked to help just 'volunteered' by the supervisor there. I don't mind helping once in a while but this is becoming common place now and when I'm finished sorting Amazon packages, I'm tired and just want to go home.It sounds like this will be the last weekend I work at the other post office anyway because the amount of Amazon coming in is becoming too much for one post office to handle and I'll need to work Amazon packages at my regular assigned post office starting Sunday Nov. 18 but that has not been 100% confirmed as of this post..Then the month long madness from after Thanksgiving till Christmas will begin and from what I've heard, it will be utter chaos

Had 2 phone interviews this week which has lead so far into one in-person interview scheduled next week. These aren't the most ideal jobs I'd like to get hired for but they're better than my current situation.

I had the in-person interview today. I thought it went pretty well. The interviewer spent 80% of the time talking with me adding the occasional "uh-huh" "yes" and so forth. He does seem to want to move quickly so that may work in my favor. I should hear back Friday.

I heard back from him today. Turns out I was the runner up and he'd keep my profile on record. I also had a session with a temp agency today. Maybe they'll turn up something.

Had a 3rd interview with a company today. Hopeful, but not counting any lizards before they hatch. (Just received a rejection email today from the last company who put me through 3 interviews and the 3rd interview with that company was back in July).

I have found that over the last month or so that any nervousness I used to have before interviews is gone. Been on the seeking end of the process long enough now that nothing rattles me anymore.

Had a 3rd interview with a company today. Hopeful, but not counting any lizards before they hatch.

These interviews were arranged though a recruiter who informed me that the decision is down to me and one other candidate and that the 3 people who I interviewed with plan to make a final decision this weekend and make an offer to whoever they pick early next week. (There was a caveat that the timeline may get pushed back slightly as one of the decision makers is out of the country and has spotty internet and phone coverage where he's at.)

I thought the week of Thanksgiving would be a slow week for the job hunt (and I'm expecting/hoping to hear whether I get an offer from the 3rd interview I referred to earlier on Monday or Tuesday), but I've got 2 face-to-face interviews scheduled this week and one is a second interview.About 10 minutes after I sent in an application this morning (on a Sunday) I got called and had a phone interview. After the phone interview, I was sent a 10 page questionnaire that I've been asked me to complete by Tuesday. Questionnaire is kind of annoying in that its asking me to answer all of the questions I was asked on the phone today, so basically the recruiter is asking me to write up the interview notes myself.

I think I remember doing something similar to that in the past. .Maybe it was for a temporary agency and I remember thinking the same thing that I was basically doing their job for them Of course temporary agencies these days don't even do that, at least the ones around here.Good luck it sounds promising

So work at the post office has started to ramp up starting with the day after veterans day. We're down 2 people; one lady that lost both her parents 3 days apart and another lady is getting hip surgery so they won't be back for a while.. I did get an at a boy from the postmaster by text for my work the other day but he doesn't seem to give props to people in person for some reason. .Had to do Amazon products by myself Sunday and they gave me the wrong key to open the gate with so the post master had to come open the gate. He also gave me his kesy to the office to use in the future Still managed to get the Amazon packages sorted before the carriers showed up and then had to sort priority packages to get ahead start on today's work load. Only day off I will get is Thanksgiving day and my body is still sore from all this work, and the Christmas rush hasn't really begun yet

Thanks. This was my longest period of unemployment for me since I was 14 years old. And of all the interviews I had, this was the only 1 of maybe 3 or 4 that I thought would likely be a job where I'll work until I retire. (Would have accepted many of the other jobs I interviewed for, but would have kept looking.)

Weird week in that I was really expecting the week of Thanksgiving to be a slow week as far as hearing from any employers and I didn't have any future interviews scheduled as of last Thursday, but then the phone started ringing on Friday and ever since and I had interviews scheduled for every day this week except for Thanksgiving day and was scheduled for an interview or 2 every day next week. Felt good to be able to cancel all of em.

Will be working for a small but growing international company that provides engineering services for manufacturing companies. Official title will be Environmental, Health, and Safety Specialist for North America- sounds more impressive than it is as they only have 2 locations and about 120 employees in the US. In reality I'll be wearing many, many hats around the office here-at least to start until they grow a bit more. Will also have to travel to Mexico and China a couple of times a year.

The Christmas package onslaught has begun at our post office Sorted 6 gaylord boxes (5 feet x 5 feet x 5 feet) of packages from FedEx on Saturday, worked 10 pallets of Amazon this morning plus 2 gaylord boxes of priority mail packages, then another 4 FedEx pallets I couldn't finish yesterday and another 5 FedEx pallets of packages that arrived after Amazon this morning for a grand total of 29 The paycheck will be nice though..The carriers are not gonna be happy when the come in Monday morning but the plan is to have them deliver all those packages in the morning which will give us time to sort the mail and sort the 2nd truck that comes in from Charlotte so they can then come back and deliver the mail on their 2nd run.Still no confirmation if we are going to get any seasonal help cause man do we need it!

The Christmas mail madness is well underway.. Been averaging 55 hours every week now Finally got some seasonal help on Wednesday Nov. 28 but it may be too little too late. The plan was for me to get him trained up on dispatch (sorting outgoing mail to Charlotte) and I would start coming in anywhere from midnight to 3am to start sorting pallets of Amazon packages for the carriers to start delivering at 6am, but that got scrapped on Friday due to the cluster f... that the new guy had after I had everything setup and caught up for him when I left at 4pm Thursday. He's 63 and of course not very fast at that age and speed along with efficiency is what's required for that part of the job so the truck can leave on time at 6pm every evening like clock work. He's too efficient which takes way too much time when you have carriers bringing in cages of outgoing mail and packages that need to be sorted (First Class, Priority, Media/Retail Ground, etc.) at a rapid pace just to keep up and maintain that 6pm deadline.I came in Friday and the senior PSE that trained me said that things will probably change because I have a good system down pat for dispatch and that I'm needed more continuing to work split shifts and they will have the new guy help me in the mornings distributing bucket tubs of mail, sorting pallets of bundled magazines & catalogs, and distributing trays of mail for the city & rural carriers when they come in so they have their routes to work on while I sort Amazon, FedEx SmartPost, and other postal mail packages for city & rural carriers.I've received several compliments from my coworkers (including the guy that trained me as he's apparently not one for giving compliments), several city & rural carriers, the supervisor, and even the Postmaster by text and in person (which is apparently rare as he's not one for giving compliments either) so it makes me feel good that I'm proving my worth but even me closing in on 50 years old, this kind of back-breaking fast-paced work is taking a toll on my body with pain everywhere and I'm just pushing through it each day because i have to just to keep up the pace.. I just hope I don't get injured or disabled in the process and I really hope all this hard work leads to a career position to carry me through to retirement age.Oh, and we've lost a few carriers along the way.. Lost 3 rural carriers so far, and lost 1 city carrier 2 days ago. Another city carrier will be transferring to the Greenville, SC post office by Dec. 21 so that's just adding to the stress at our local post office